A Cookie: Vanyl in Hogwarts
by Deritine
Summary: Harry PotterMirror of Maybe and Heralds crossover: Vanyl is given new life as a Companion in Hogwarts.


**Note:** Originally posted as part of a Cookie/Crossover Challenge for the Mirror of Maybe ) A really good fic that you should all read. ****

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Harry Potter, Mirror of Maybe or the Heralds of Valdemar. (The Heralds of Valdemar being what I am cross-overing :) In case anyone doesn't know, the Heralds series is by Mercedes Lackey. I figure you all know who the others are by!

**Warning:** Some (ok, a bunch) of spoilers for the Valdemar series, plus my personal theory on Companions, their sources, etc. What is explained about Companions in the following cookie is not necessarily the truth, but then, it is a cookie… Enjoy!

Vanyl steps out of the Gate that Vkandis had opened for him, stretching unfamiliar legs in the cool grass. He feels the magical energies close behind him. He can only recognize the Gate for what it is due to his somewhat obsessive interest in the magic portals. Granted they are the source of both his power and his angst, but none have delved into the theory and practice more than he. The hundreds of years spent as a ghost guardian certainly didn't help matters. One can get quite bored out in the boonies keeping your country safe without a few hobbies. But all that is past, now. Vanyl is now a Companion, a mystical being taking the form of a horse with a snow white coat, mane and tail and sapphire eyes.

_I had to continue to protect Valdemar,_ Vanyl muses. _I cannot rest while there might still be danger for my country. And I sensed a great danger about to arise once more._ He trots out of the Grove, looking for the Palace so that he can join the other Companions and find the one whose soul tugs him forward. _Why I couldn't be born the usual way; I don't think many are Grove Born after they have lived already…_Vanyl muses before he breaks the tree line. A large castle stands upon a hill in front of him, sweeping lawns sliding down into a lake. It is night and the castle is lit from inside with comforting light. Such comfort is beyond Vanyl. _Where did the Palace go?!? Where is Haven?_ In a panic the stallion jumps forward in a full out gallop, hoping that this is some sort of illusion, some trick of the gods. Laugh at him they may, but anything so that the Palace will come back!

Ash drops into Quick-time as he feels the immense magical force open in the Forbidden Forest. He is out of the Great Hall almost before anyone can tell that he has moved. He makes it onto the grounds mere seconds after the force had disappeared and stops dead to listen. This might just be the attack from Voldemort that he had been dreading since the Mirror had disrupted the sequence of time and caused the Dark Lord to act with increasing speed. Harry cannot tell any longer where the magic had come from, the spell seemingly having completely dissipated. Disturbing as spells of such magnitude always leave traces.

Placing a hand on a large foundation stone beside him, he confers with the castle. Hogwarts is not reacting in any of the ways that would suggest it feels the students are threatened. Looking up, Harry can see the gargoyles, still perched on the turrets and still stone. Frowning, Harry looks back at the forest in time to see the beautiful white stallion emerge from the darkness under the trees. Only by dropping into Quick-time instinctively is he able to see that the horse is indeed galloping and not using some new form of Apparition to move across the grounds.

By this time the Headmaster has joined the stumped War Mage, who drops back out of Quick-time in order to hear what the Headmaster is saying. "Were you able to see what caused the disturbance? I have sent all the children back to their dorms."

"Good. There seems to be no danger, or at least no immediate danger. Hogwarts is not alarmed." Ash pauses to look up at the frozen gargoyles pointedly. "But I did see a pure white stallion moving very quickly away from the Forest. I've never seen its like." Dumbledore looks pensively at the innocently still and dark forest, ruminating. A creature unknown to a War Mage? This must be serious indeed.

Vanyl slows to a canter, running to help his mind think. As a horse, it seems to be a good way to release energy without fogging his mind. Plus it helps to run off excess nervous energy. _What happened? This is not Valdemar._ He searches for what he must have done wrong, coming up with nothing. He had stepped through the Gate as the gods had commanded and ended up… here. _How can I protect my land when I am somewhere else entirely? What have I done?_ He keeps moving, not knowing what to do. He who had protected one people so long, now lost. Obviously his help had been found wanting. The gods must have shunted him off somewhere where he could no longer bother them. And without his lifebond, his love. _Stephan, will you be born here as well?_ But no. His love had done nothing to deserve banishment. He is waiting for Vanyl's return, probably confused as to why Vanyl is no longer in the world he knew. _Everything is wrong._ Depressed, he slows to a trot, a walk, and finally stands. Only one thing remains, the only thing familiar in this strange world. The faint tug, a shadow of the bond he had had with his own Companion. _I must find the one I am to Bond: that is the only thing left._ He points his hooves determinedly toward the looming castle.

"…and then it moved away so quickly I was hardly sure I'd seen it."

"And if not for your attuned Mage senses, you wouldn't have." Severus finishes the thought, lounging on the bed as Ash paces before it. He yawns behind a hand. It has been a long night of speculation with some sleep and… other things. Now it is nearly time to get up and they are retracing arguments well worn in the night. Snape finally gets up and begins to dress, Ash already fully clothed in his War Mage gear.

They exit Snape's room and proceed to the dining hall. There a great commotion is disturbing the morning peace. The students early to breakfast are standing in the great entryway, eyes wide and curious at the pounding on the large double doors. There is no rhythm to the attack on the door, sounding more like fiends from hell have decided to vent frustration on the poor wood. Harry knows that the door is unbreakable, but even so he runs a hand along the slick inner surface, scanning for stress. To his disbelief, the ancient oak is feeling uncomfortable. The force being applied to the outside must be great indeed to cause any distress at all.

Harry puts a powerful strengthening charm on the door and frame for good measure. He looks back to where Dumbledore is organizing the other teachers, Snape included, to keep the gawking students back and maintain some semblance of order. Ash strides over to the older wizard and says, calmly, "I am going to see what the commotion is about from outside. The door will not break unless this assault goes on for a few days, which we will obviously not allow. If you can get everyone into the Great Hall they can begin eating. No sense alarming them unduly. If this keeps up for much longer, however, I would suggest sending everyone to their dorms again."

Dumbledore nods in acknowledgement. "Do you not think it is dangerous?"

"Hogwarts is not responding aggressively, merely feeling uncomfortable. I do not think that there is a problem, yet." Dumbledore nods again and begins redirecting the students and staff into the hall for breakfast. Harry, meanwhile, dashes up the stairs to the floor directly above the entrance.

He looks down from a wide window to see a beautiful white stallion beating itself against the doors, red blood streaming down his flanks from the solid wood biting into his shoulders as he slams it. The continued rearing stance as the horse beats upon the door makes the blood run in grisly parodies of racing stripes along his sides. But those details are not what has Ash is a state of shock.

The power emanating from the stallion is an almost visible blue glow, enshrouding his body and beating against the door in tandem with his physical body. _Well, that would explain how the door is being stressed._ Seeing this creature from only the distance of one story of the castle is much more compelling than seeing him just briefly and from a distance. One thing is certain, there is no evil in the horse, if horse it is. Looking upon the red-streaked form below him, Harry is almost convinced he is looking at a unicorn without its horn. But that is silly. First of all, a unicorn without its horn would die. But more importantly, this creature's blood is red.

"_Accio Skyfire_." Harry calls softly, waiting patiently until the broom maneuvers itself through the hallways of the school. Gripping it, he pushes open the window and hops out.

Vanyl strikes at the doors with his front hooves, sending off brief sparks when one encounters a metal stud. He growls in frustration, an interesting noise coming from an equine. He slams a shoulder into the wood again, not noticing the splinters pricking his flesh nor the new coat of blood he is putting on the door. So close, he can feel the one he will bond just beyond these doors. But there is no help for it. Horses do not make for good doormen. It is impossible.

Vanyl drops back to all fours, staring at the door bleakly. Nothing familiar, the world mad, and the only thing keeping him here is locked away. Nothing defending against him; merely ignored. For he is worthless, after all. No other Companions to commune with, no king or queen to aid, nothing. What purpose is there in a lone Companion? Even the first in Valdemar came as three. Truly alone, now. No lifebond, no Y'fandes. _Oh, Stephan, what have I done? Perhaps I should just throw myself off the cliff over the lake, for I have no use… and Valdemar is gone…_ Wallowing and depressed as he is, he does not notice the War Mage land cautiously, well away from the moping stallion and still mounted on his broom, ready to kick off.

"Hello?" Ash greets, hesitantly. Vanyl rears up in surprise and would have fallen over, but his oaken former adversary comes to his aid to keep him upright. Vanyl looks back to where the Mage had been once he is back on solid fours, and finds him gone. A Gate? He had felt no energy. "Are you settled?" Comes a voice from above. Vanyl's jaw drops open at the sight of the Mage hovering in mid-air. And on a broomstick? Is that really a broomstick?!? Vanyl snorts, whinnying in laughter. "Are you all right? We would appreciate it if you would stop attacking our entrance…" Ash trails off. "Are you laughing?" He asks, mildly amused.

_:I'm sorry, I can't help it! A broomstick?:_ This time it is Ash's turn to nearly fall, barely managing to retain his seat as the voice fills his head. _:How in the Star-Eyed's gaze did you get a broom to fly? And why not use something a little more… dignified?:_

"What else would we use but a broomstick?" Harry asks in confusion. "They are much steadier than riding an animal." Harry shudders at the memory of the ride on Buckbeak. He'd take a broom any day. "What are you doing here? How did you get here? Were you responsible for the energy yesterday?" Ash asks.

Vanyl's momentary hilarity is replaced by melancholy. _:The Gate was opened by Vkandis, not I. It is how I arrived here from the Grove. I can feel my Chosen within. If that were not the case, I would have tried to return, which those giant spiders might have been obliged to provide the service for.:_ Harry shakes his head, still unused to the voice being dropped right into his brain. It takes him a second to gather anything out of the horse's dialogue.

"How would the spiders have helped you return?" He asks, dubious. They had not seemed all that interested in helping him and he was a 'friend of Hagrid.'

_:It might be easier to get myself killed in that way than to canter off a cliff, but that has its merits as well.:_

Ash is taken aback. "You want to kill yourself." He is stunned.

_:That is where I came from, I was incarnated by Vkandis. I must have done something horrible to be Gated to such a strange place with no other Companions.:_ Vanyl scuffs a hoof on the ground, ruminating. _:But you need not worry about such things, they are my burden.:_

Ash is speechless. He drops into quick-time to hurriedly go over what the stallion has said… or rather, thought? It seems that this stallion thinks that Vkandis is a god, or something similar, and that he had materialized from the Forbidden Forest yesterday. Being a War Mage and having lived half his life in an enchanted mirror, Ash is quite willing to believe this as the truth. Which leaves him with a problem: what does one do with an avatar of a god, especially when one didn't necessarily believe in gods at all? The belief, it seems, is not a prerequisite for existence.

_:So, what is this place, then?:_ Comes the question, stunning Ash in that it reaches him in the enhanced state. _:And why do you look as though you are three people overlapped?:_ This time Harry does sits bolt upright and rigid, shocked to the core of his being. Did this mean the disguise had failed? _:I only see it at certain times, of course. I've only seen this particular effect on beings whose life they currently lead is not their first, but your three selves seem to be different than this. One appears magical in nature, and the other two as different aged versions of each other.: _

Worse and worse, what does it mean? Harry is at a loss to explain it, his only possible rationalization being that this demi-godly creature can see what others cannot. Which leads to one conclusion and in order to talk to him, Harry must drop out of quick-time. Unwilling to do so, he experimentally sends a thought to the creature.

_'How do you see my other selves that you speak of?'_ he asks cautiously.

_:I see them as I have been able to, flashes of otherselves.:_

_'So it is not continuous, then?'_

_:No.:_ There is a pause. _:Ah, I see. You are hiding from the others something having to do with these otherselves.: _Harry starts. If this being can read his mind at will and in its entirety, then he might be in true trouble. Not only him, however, but the world itself, all the plans he has had, dashed and come to nothing… Seeming to sense this worry, the horse continues. _:Worry not, I only thought this as I have also hidden things from those I love. It is necessary in most cases. I did not pry into your thoughts.:_ Relief floods Harry, but guarded relief. This one could easily expose him. _:It seems my secrets are quite safe here as you would have no idea what I am talking about. I would appreciate if you did not mention my connection to the gods, however. That was said in haste.:_

_'Of course." _Harry agrees readily.

_:We will hold each other in trust, then.: _The horse drops low on its front legs, the motion strangely defying gravity in its slowness, at least to Harry's eyes. _:My name is Vanyl and I am a Companion. It would aid me greatly if you could open the door for me.:_

Harry bows, motions likewise slow. _'I welcome you, Vanyl. My name is War Mage Ash.'_ He drops out of quick-time and lands once more on the ground, propping the broom by its handle on his boot, causing the stallion's nostrils to twitch in amusement. Harry catches a faint _:broom…:_ in the back of his mind but chooses to ignore it. "To get into the castle, all you need to do is ask." He says, turning to face the door. "Please let me in." He addresses the door, which begins to swing obligingly.

_:That's it? I was about to call a Final Strike on that stubborn door, if it wouldn't have destroyed my Chosen along with everything else.:_ Vanyl's spirits drop to a new low. Just ask, indeed. He must be a truly horrible person to resort to violence as a matter of course. Story of his life, and story of his pain. The drooping stallion follows the War Mage into the castle.

He perks up when he senses that he is getting closer to his bond. Close now, through those doors ahead… Harry opens the doors to the entrance of the Great Hall, swinging them out slowly as he turns to the white animal streaked in blood. "I will introduce you to Headmaster Dumbledore and then you can get tended by our mediwitch, Madame Pomfrey."

Vanyl nods his head, long mane whipping his blue eyes. He looks up and freezes, one hoof still raised off the floor. There before him is the one he has come for, sitting at the long table perpendicular to the four others, the only one that seems to hold adults. Looking rather like a version of himself as a human, though, Vanyl allows himself the vanity, far less pretty. But the same long dark hair, pale complexion, thin and deceptively delicate bone structure.

But more important than physical similarities, the soul of the man calls to him. He boils inside with the darkness that found itself so inexorably into Vanyl's own heart and soul. But with the sense that is almost instinct in a Companion, the _knowing_ of the person's innermost self, this draws him to the man with an irresistible pull. Here he can help, will help; aid this man who has so much responsibility. Now he knows why he has been sent to this world. The gods send help to those who might change the world, send Companions to those who would be their Heralds.

Vanyl looks over at the man beside him, then back at his soon-to-be-Chosen. They look at each other in that way that makes Vanyl ache for his own Stephan. _My Chosen is not alone._ He smiles inwardly. He walks steadily forward, listening with the back of his mind and storing what Ash is saying to him there, focusing on the man in front of him. Vanyl notes the interested raising of an eyebrow, the silent commune between his Chosen and the man beside him. Vanyl senses their lifebond as only another who has experienced it can. Ash stops in front of Dumbledore to introduce the Companion, but Vanyl continues walking to the end of the table where a surprised Potions Master sits.

Vanyl comes to a halt in front of the man, lifting his head slowly and catching Snape's eye. From experience, Vanyl knows how Snape feels, as though he is sinking into the brilliant sapphire blue of his eyes, drowning. But drowning in happiness and feeling oneself filled with love in a place that had not seemed empty until it was suddenly connected to another. Vanyl lets the love he feels for his Chosen flow through the bond, his job, his mission, his happiness to complete this man as he had been completed before. As much as he will miss his lifebond and his own Companion, this holy satisfaction brushes away the fears he has been harboring for the past day, at least for a time. _:I am Vanyl. You are my Chosen. I will never leave you.:_

Snape is, like Harry had been, very startled to hear a voice in his head. Unlike the Mage, Severus has not been with other cultures to help absorb the shock, but he is feeling an unconditional love that is unlike anything outside of a Companion bond. Severus reaches out a tentative hand to Vanyl's silky coat, running his hand along the ivory colored sleekness. Vanyl moves as close as the table will allow, Snape running his hand down to Vanyl's shoulder. Vanyl follows the hand with his eye, amused that the blood is already disappearing from his coat. Companions do not retain any color, whether it be blood, dirt or hair dye. The magic running through their skin bleaches it pure white, as it does their eyes blue. Vanyl's eyes close in pleasure at the touch, reaching out to nuzzle the shoulder of the arm running along his side.

Vanyl opens his eye to see a desolate Ash standing where he had stopped. He is looking at his lover who has an expression of such bliss on his face as to close out the War Mage entirely. Vanyl's eyes meet Harry's, which are a confusing mix of green and brown-black. _:I am not taking him from you, War Mage. Nothing can do that.:_ Vanyl moves toward the still man, Severus moving with him in an almost trance, hand never leaving the silky side. Vanyl drapes his head over the stiffened shoulder, whuffling into the man's hair. _:You will be together and I will be there as well, always.:_

**A/N**: Well, there we go, I was very tempted with this cookie idea, and this contest in general. Must say my first fanfic of a fanfic, heh. They are very fun, though and I'm halfway tempted to continue it. I haven't read the Last Herald Mage Series in a while (too long!) and I have gasp misplaced Magic's Pawn. Now I really want to re-read the whole series… and the Harry Potter one, too… and of course, Mirror of Maybe. If anyone has not read the Valdemar books, you poor, poor dears. The Last Herald Mage series is the best, Magic's Pawn, Promise and Price. (Vanyl being the main character of those) Link on Amazon is: ?vglance&sbooks for the first one.


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